Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
The House and the Senate have each passed a bill to pay for school lunches, but the two versions are different.Which step comes next?
- Picture the path: introduced, committee, floor vote, the other house, both houses pass the same text, then the president.
- Both houses have voted, so the first four steps are done. But they passed different words.
- A bill can go to the president only when both houses have passed exactly the same text. Sometimes one house accepts the other’s version. Sometimes members of both houses meet in a conference committee to work out one version, and then both houses vote on it again.
- So the bill does not go to the president yet. The next step is for both houses to agree on the same words.
Answer: Both houses must pass the same text
Example 2
Congress sends the president a bill on a Tuesday. On Thursday, Congress adjourns for the year. The president never signs the bill.What happens to the bill?
- The president has ten days, not counting Sundays, to act. Here the president does nothing.
- Doing nothing can end two ways. Ask: is Congress still in session?
- If Congress were in session, the bill would become a law after ten days without a signature.
- But Congress adjourned (ended its session and went home) on Thursday, before the ten days were up, so the bill could not be returned. Without a signature it dies. That is a pocket veto, and Congress cannot override it; it must start over with a new bill.
Answer: It dies by a pocket veto
Where this is taught: Civics, Chapter 5: The steps, in order · Civics, Chapter 5: The Constitution’s own words · Civics, Chapter 5: A veto override in history
In your Kaplan book: Unit 3, Chapter 3, Lesson 3: Levels and Branches of Government · Map of the Terrain, topic 16: Congress, and how a bill becomes law
The drill
Ten questions
How many:
Tap your answer to each one. A few questions ask you to choose words from a drop-down instead, the way the GED test does. Then press Check my answers at the bottom.Circle your answer to each one; where there are brackets, circle the choice that fits. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.